"Only Grace"

We all need more guitars Dave...
Killer Vocal performance... gave me goose bumps...
Knocked out...
Lovely song...

Thanks Frank! Sometimes it's hard to keep an objective view of recordings that I work on, so it was good to hear that it gave you the same reaction as me!

Good observations, Joshua. The compression is all added "in the box" (none when tracking), so I probably need to adjust the volume envelopes a little more to smooth out the levels as opposed to relying on the compression as much. (BTW - I used the same mic on this track and you have - the BlueBird - love it!). I definitely like him singing it the way it is, but I also like keeping it just vocals and acoustic. So I hear what you're saying there, but I think I'll leave it with just the guitar. Matthew West has an acoustic version of the song where he sings it a little more restrained to match the acoustic feel, but I think the message of the song is crying out for the vocal delivery that Heath gave it. Thanks for your detailed feedback, I really appreciate it!

There is never enough guitars... that goes without saying.
 
Great vocal tone, other that the balance compression issues rualrocker mentioned. 
 
But excellent performance.  I kept waiting for "the band" to kick in

Daryl

Thanks Tap! Glad you enjoyed it - I appreciate the comments!

Daryl - you got an extra one or two laying around to spare, don't ya? I'll definitely address that compression issue.

Mark - yeah I was surprised about the postive comments on the acoustic cuz the sound is not what I was going for on tone. But I've not been getting the fuller low end I'm wanting without sounding boomy. On the downstrokes issue... that's how Matthew West plays it on his acoustic version (which is what the singer likes). But I agree with you. And this is a CD to pass out to family & friends and with trying to crank out 10 songs in just a few sessions, we'll probably end up being happy with the "great demo" status.

Thanks Vicente! I appreciate the input.

On the copyright issue... I've looked up info through LimeLight. That admin fee is a killer. I'm not sure exactly how many he plans on giving out but I'll let him decide what he wants to do. However, my personal opinion is that I view copyright laws like traffic laws - there's a difference between driving a couple of miles over the speed limit and a DUI, if you know what I mean.

Thanks Robby! I would like to redo the acoustic. I wish I had more time. This track only involves about 45 minutes recording time and about an hour of mixing. So it's a rush job and I guess along with that comes "technical imperfections". But between work, teenage daughter, band, grandpa's in the hospital, etc, that's about how much time I've got!! With 10 songs (most of which I needed to learn to play) I'll probably put 40-60 hours into this CD, which I know is not much compared to a "professional" CD, but it's hard to fit that into my schedule.

But yeah he's a great singer and I feel fortunate to get to work with him. I want the music to be good but end of the day this CD is about his singing.

Thanks!

Perhaps the off-timed guitar hooks me the most: This is exceedingly beautiful to my ears (frightfully similar to my guitar style).  I wish the strum hits didn't fade on the 1st verse (so I listened twice).

But this is exceedingly inspiring for stormy Christians (me), though this song doesn't really validate the cross-of-Christ causing all that forgiveness (if that makes sense). 

9.9/10  10/10 if you blend-in bring up that precious guitar in the 1st verse.  Wow!
 
Regarding copyright issues:  Being that this is a Christian song and all Christian songs flow from God's Spirit (if my KJV Eph 5.19 scriptures are correct) ... you may have a spiritual obligation to place this in your CD.  IOWs, if you don't place this in your CD, you're breaking the commandment, IMHO.  But if its for filthy lucre, well ...
 
Another work-around: If this song is in a book you've bought (with "written permission" therein) ... you may justify a legal portion of it ... I may be wrong.

Dave,

excellent recording. The vocals are sweet. I like the tone of the guitar but not the strumming. It sounds like 95% straight downstrokes..... that's my only nit.

On the vox maybe a slight bit more verb to add space.

I heard a few places where you could easily bring in the band, but keeping it acoustic works too.

On the issue of covers....especially Christian covers... go to The Harry Fox Agency  website , License Music, Mechanical License and fill out the application and pay the license fee right there.... you have to set up an account first IIRC.... but that keeps you legal... and it's like 10 cents per CD , per song that you plan to manufacture and sell. Not very expensive at all.

Sweet!

Wow.  Really sounds great to me.  Very rich vocal and the Taylor sounds good.  I have to kinda agree with -J-YoYo about the strum.  I couldn't tell you how to change it though.  Really nice recording, Dave and friends!

Nice tune and a superb vocal there Dave.  It sounded like some body resonance ringing thru from your Taylor, but I think it's worth another take with a slightly different approach.